# Laundromat Education — free YouTube + courses

A curated, free-first learning path for buying and running a laundromat. Ordered for where Aaron is right now: a first-time buyer who wants to own and operate (not a passive investor). Researched 2026-05-29.

## Start here (best fit for buying + operating)

### 1. Laundromat Resource — Jordan Berry  ⭐ top pick for buyers
Jordan owns laundromats and teaches the buying process specifically. Everything below is free.
- **Free 3-part "How to Buy a Laundromat" course** (podcast/YouTube, Episode 239):
  - **Part 1 — Find deals:** 6-step system across public listings, broker networks, and off-market.
  - **Part 2 — Value it & make offers:** the 4 metrics — net operating income, equipment age/condition, rent as a % of gross, and remaining lease years.
  - **Part 3 — Due diligence:** the "four pillars" — verify income, verify expenses, judge the trajectory, find value-add upside.
  - This is the exact backbone of what we're doing on the dashboard. Watch all three before the first seller call goes deep.
- Podcast: https://www.laundromatresource.com/podcast/ (also Apple/Spotify — "The Laundromat Resource Podcast")
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/laundromatresource
- Free tools: https://www.laundromatresource.com/resources (LOI + purchase-agreement templates), https://www.laundromatresource.com/calculators (valuation calculator)
- Free deal tracker: LaundromatDFY (laundromatdfy.com) — organize leads, free account.

### 2. Laundromat Millionaire — Dave & Carla Menz  ⭐ top pick for operating
Dave grew a $25K first store into ~$1.8M/yr across 4 stores. Strongest on running and improving a store (operations, wash-and-fold, remodels, staffing).
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LaundromatMillionaire
- Podcast: "The Laundromat Millionaire Show with Dave Menz" (Apple/Spotify)
- Tone: transparent, real numbers, husband-and-wife team — a good model since we're framing as a couple buying to operate.

### 3. UpFlip — laundromat interviews + deep-dive articles
Polished interviews with real owners and thorough how-to articles with actual numbers.
- YouTube laundromat playlist (5+ owner interviews incl. Dave Menz): search "UpFlip laundromat" on YouTube.
- Free articles: How Much Do Laundromats Make, How to Buy a Laundromat ($1.8M/yr), Laundromat Business Plan — all at upflip.com/blog.

## Owner vlogs (watch how the day-to-day actually feels)
Less "course," more "ride along." Good for getting a feel before you commit.
- **Laundromat Girl (Cami)** — oncology nurse who bought a mat in 2020 and tripled her nursing income. Relatable first-time-owner arc. youtube.com/channel/UCDhK3vRSqjenxl-Cc5bkmMw
- **Following Keenan** — daily life of an owner: finances, employees, trends.
- (Skip the pure-celebrity ones like Roman Atwood's "Smile More Laundry" — entertainment, not education.)

## Industry body
### Coin Laundry Association (CLA) — coinlaundry.org / laundryassociation.org
The trade association. Membership (paid, ~1 yr, monthly option) unlocks a real library: white papers, webinars, training videos on financing/customer service/scaling, plus the annual **Industry Survey** (great benchmark data) and *Full Cycle* magazine. Free to browse: PlanetLaundry.com (their publication) has lots of open articles.
- Worth joining once you're under contract or close to it, for the data and the operator network. Not essential on day one.

## Paid, only if you want structure later (not required)
The free stuff above covers ~everything. These exist if Aaron prefers a packaged curriculum:
- **UpFlip — "Acquire Your First Laundromat"** (paid course; same team as the free interviews).
- **Laundromat Resource — "90 Days to Your First Laundromat"** (Jordan's paid Teachable course; the free mini-course covers the basics first).
- **Udemy — "Laundromat Ownership Step-by-Step"** (cheap, operations-focused).
- **FreeLaundromat.com** — markets "101+ hours" and a "get a laundromat for free" angle. Some genuinely free content, but heavy upsell and the "free laundromat" framing is hype — treat skeptically.

## RUNNING one — operations (the part most courses skip)

The big realization from the research: **almost every paid laundromat course teaches you to BUY, then ends at closing.** Dave Menz's $997 New Owner's Course literally finishes on a module titled "You Own A Laundromat!" The real operating know-how is mostly free.

**Best free operator teacher — Dave & Carla Menz YouTube + podcast.** Ironically, skip his paid (buying) course and binge his free channel, which is full of operations: wash-and-fold, pickup & delivery, hiring/attendants, remodels, pricing, customer-service systems, repeatable processes. https://www.youtube.com/c/LaundromatMillionaire

**Watch real operations:**
- **Laundromat Money** — monthly P&L + coin-collection videos, real numbers on screen. youtube.com/channel/UCg12jbzV3neNhKuUOrS6ApA
- **Following Keenan** — day-in-the-life: staff, repairs, cash, problem-solving.

**Operations cheat-sheet (what running one involves):**
- *Daily:* check machines for error codes; clean lint traps/floors/folding tables/restroom; collect & reconcile coin/card vs logs; restock soap + vending.
- *Staffing:* self-service + cashless ≈ part-time attendant ~$1–2k/mo; add wash-and-fold + delivery → ~$4–8k/mo. Attendants ~$15–20/hr.
- *Maintenance:* ~$200–500 quarterly service visit prevents the $700–1,500 emergency repair. Serviced machines use less water/gas.
- *Pricing:* self-serve ~$3–7.50/load (avg ~$5.25 in 2026); wash-and-fold ~$1.25–2.50/lb (most ~$1.75). Track competitors; vary by load size/time.
- *Peak:* weekends (Sun > Sat) + weekday evenings 4–9pm.
- *Upside levers* (turn a normal store into our $30k/mo target): wash-and-fold, pickup & delivery, modern card/app payments, remote monitoring.

## Paid courses — priced, ranked, all BUYING-focused (skip unless you want structure)
- **UpFlip — Acquire Your First Laundromat** (Dave Menz): 66 lessons / 4h38m, **90-day money-back guarantee**, 75 downloadables + community. Lowest-risk because of the refund.
- **Dave Menz — New Owner's Course:** **$997** (or 3×$397; 20% off members), 10 modules / 66 lessons / 7h, lifetime access. Thorough but ends at purchase; **no refund policy listed.**
- **Jordan Berry — Laundromat Playbook:** frameworks + 1-on-1 coaching + KPIs + mastermind. Do his FREE 3-part course first; upgrade only for hand-holding.
- **Tom Donnelly — 30-Day Laundromat Ownership Mastery:** **$497** (was "$2,500"), 7-day refund. Real owner, but heavy "$15k/mo passive" marketing + perma-discount urgency. (This is the valuation playbook we already ingested.)
- **Udemy — Laundromat Ownership Step-by-Step:** ~$15–90 on sale; decent ops primer.
- **Eric Rouland (The Laundromat Coach):** legit (CBS/NBC/ABC, 5+ yrs owning, ex-corporate finance). Sells deal-review ($97–497) + coaching ($75–127/session). Acquisition-focused, not operations.
- **Course-scam red flags to avoid:** guaranteed income, "proven system," countdown-timer urgency, hidden curriculum, $10k+ "mentorship." FreeLaundromat.com's "get a laundromat for free" is hype — skeptical.

## A sane 1-week study plan
- **Day 1–2:** Jordan Berry's free 3-part "How to Buy a Laundromat" (Parts 1→3). Take notes against our dashboard's deal modeler.
- **Day 3–4:** Dave Menz — pick 3–4 videos on operations, wash-and-fold, and remodels. This is what you'll actually do after closing.
- **Day 5:** UpFlip "How to Buy" + "Business Plan" articles for the numbers framing. Cross-check against our BUSINESS_PLAN.md.
- **Day 6:** Two owner vlogs (Cami + Keenan) to feel the day-to-day.
- **Day 7:** Skim CLA / PlanetLaundry articles; bookmark the Industry Survey for when you're comparing a real store's numbers to benchmarks.

## How this ties to our setup
- Jordan's "four pillars" of due diligence = exactly the questions in the dashboard **Call Script** tab and the doc-request list (3yr tax returns, utility bills, lease, equipment ages, coin/card logs).
- His valuation metrics (NOI, rent %, lease years, equipment) = the **Deal Modeler** + **Fair Value** math already in the For Sale tab.
- Dave Menz's operations content = what makes a store hit our **$30k/mo trophy** target (wash-and-fold, pricing, remote monitoring are the upside levers we flagged on Oceanside).

## Sources
- [Laundromat Resource — free course (Ep. 239)](https://www.laundromatresource.com/show239/) · [podcast](https://www.laundromatresource.com/podcast/) · [resources](https://www.laundromatresource.com/resources)
- [Laundromat Millionaire (Dave Menz) YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/c/LaundromatMillionaire)
- [UpFlip — How to Buy a Laundromat](https://www.upflip.com/blog/how-to-buy-a-laundromat) · [How Much Do Laundromats Make](https://www.upflip.com/blog/how-much-do-laundromats-make)
- [Coin Laundry Association](https://www.coinlaundry.org/owner-resources) · [PlanetLaundry](https://planetlaundry.com/industry-resources/)
- [Cents — 5 must-listen laundry podcasts](https://www.trycents.com/our-2-cents/top-laundromat-podcasts)